Guest column
The following is a guest submission from Mike Sylvester, Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Allen County.
by Mike Sylvester
Many of our current City Councilmen (Especially the Republicans) ran on a platform that condemned annexation.
The proposed Carroll Road annexation received preliminary approval from The Fort Wayne City Council on March 21st. All five Republicans and all four Democrats voted for the resolution. Our Democratic Mayor supports this annexation as well. This proposed annexation will bring 4311 more residents into the grand City of Fort Wayne; whether they like it or not.
I attended the informational meetings The City of Fort Wayne held for the residents earlier this year. It was quickly apparent that a vast majority of the residents did not want to be annexed. The residents were proudly informed that every Mayor in the history of Fort Wayne has annexed at least one area. The residents were told and I quote “We are not annexing you to help your community; we are annexing you to help other areas of Fort Wayne.” The residents were further told and I quote “You should be proud to be annexed into Fort Wayne. There will be no benefit for you; however, your tax dollars will improve the entire community.”
The residents were told that Fort Wayne was aggressively pursuing the seizure of Aqua Indiana North’s assets with eminent domain and that this was a top priority. The residents were informed that 15% of the sewers operated by The City of Fort Wayne are located outside of the city limits. The residents were told that Dupont road will not be widened near the new Wal Mart for at least ten years. The residents were told to expect property tax increases of 35.3% if they reside in Perry Township and 38% of they reside in Washington Township.
I hope that these future Fort Wayne residents have a good memory and vote appropriately in 2007 for some new City Council representatives and for a new Mayor.
The Republicans and Democrats in Fort Wayne are very similar. They agree on every major issue and there is little, if any, disagreement about anything of importance. The only time they seem to disagree is during the elections when they are running for office and trying to show us how different they are. Our City Council and Mayor both support expanding Fort Wayne through annexation, believe that it is a good idea to seize private property with eminent domain when it suits them, and absolutely refuse to consolidate some services with Allen County to give the taxpayers a break on their property taxes.
I hope the voters send the “Republicrats” and the “Demopublicans” a message in the next several elections. It is time for a change in Fort Wayne. Please feel free to contact me at 338-0833 or by email at Mike.Sylvester@Verizon.net or join the discussion on the web at http://allencountylp.blogspot.com/.